Seeing the Fountain of Eternal Life

No child ever had anything to say as to whether he would or would not be conceived and born. No man or woman can decide that a child is going to be born to them. They may be very desirous of having a child, and there may seem to be no reason why they cannot have one. But whether they will or not depends upon God's will.

Concerning God, David writes in Psalm 36:9: "Forwith Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light shall we see light." We therefore sing (PRC Psalter):

The fountain of eternal life I found alone with Thee, And in the brightness of Thy light We clearly light shall see.

This is so important for us to remember when we are considering being born again with the everlasting life of the kingdom of heaven. As surely as no child is born physically at its request, so surely no man is born again with spiritual life because he asked for it. He cannot ask for it, or even want it, until it has already been given to him. He was not here physically before his natural birth, and therefore could not ask for it. There was likewise no spiritual life in him that could want to ask for a rebirth, until he had already been born again. Christ earned it for us, and God eternally decreed that we would have it.

Is it not God Who speaks here through David and says that the fountain of life is with Him? Yesterday we saw that salvation belongs to God. It is His work from beginning to end; and all the credit, the praise and thanksgiving for it must be given to God. Being born again is the beginning of that salvation in us. It is a free gift that we do not even want until it has been begun in us.

And since even the desire for it is God's gift to us, we owe Him everlasting praise and thanksgiving. Not one drop of the water of everlasting life that comes out of this fountain of life comes from us. Before we receive life out of it, we cannot even see that Christ is that Fountain of Life. Did not those not born again crucify Christ, this Fountain of Life? Born again, we see Christ as that whole source of our new heavenly life.

"In the old dispensation, Moses alone beheld the Glory of the Lord; and the skin of his face was changed. In the new dispensation, we all beheld that glory; and, by the grace of the Spirit, we are changed, made like unto the Lord. We are changed spiritually through the means of looking at His image in the mirror of the Scriptures. And the injunction which follows if plain: cover not your faces; close not the Scriptures; look steadfastly in them, for they make us free and wise unto salvation ." ~ Homer C. Hoeksema

Last modified on 28 November 2015

Additional Info

Rev. John A. Heys was born on March 16, 1910 in Grand Rapids, MI. He was ordained and installed into the ministry at Hope, Walker, MI in 1941. He later served at Hull, Iowa beginning in 1955. In 1959 he accepted the call to serve the South Holland, IL Protestant Reformed Church. He received and accepted the call to Holland, Michigan Protestant Reformed Church in 1967. He retired from the active ministry in 1980. He entered into glory on February 16, 1998.